princess in rags
by gunpowder perfume
Summary: sora/kairi/riku -- mother, my friends are no longer my friends and the games we once played have no meaning. so they’ve left me to my own daydreaming.


**&&**princess in rags  
sora × kairi × riku

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mother my friends are no longer my friends  
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"Riku, Sora, look!" a young girl exclaimed, running across the sandy beach barefooted, a butterfly net in one of her hands while her other hand clutched onto an empty mayonnaise jar. She waved frantically before yelling again, "Come guys, look!"

Two boys gazed at each other and spoke simultaneously, "Race you there." With a great burst of speed, the two boys bolted off in the direction of the girl. The younger boy skidded into a clumsy halt before tripping and landing at the girl's feet. 

Kairi just giggled as she turned to politely ask Riku if he could hold her mayonnaise jar before leaning down and extending a hand at the boy sprawled in the sand. "Silly Sora, are you alright?" 

Pushing himself up from the ground, the brunet grinned. "I'm fine," he replied before asking, "What's the matter?" 

"Look what I found!" she cried with enthusiasm after she confirmed that her friend was alright. "What do you think it is, Riku?" she turned to the older boy, reaching into her butterfly net and extracting a brightly colored butterfly, the edges striking red while the rest was a vibrant yellow tinged with white. 

Riku almost smirked, knowingly putting his hand under his chin and observing the butterfly. "Probably Jezebel, see the black veins here with red, white and yellow? Yeah, it's definitely a Jezebel," he finally said, obviously proud of himself for knowing something as important as this. Well, duh, he was puffing out his chest like a vain rooster. Sora snickered as Riku sent him a dark look. 

Kairi seemed unaware of the competitive looks on her best friend's faces, instead, she chirped, "Oh! That's a pretty name! Jezebel… You know, I don't think we should keep this one, Sora, it's just so pretty…" 

The mention of his name snapped Sora out of the staring contest he was having with Riku as he flushed a bright red, stuttering and trying to find a reply. "I, err, yeah. Let's leave it," he mumbled, trying to hide his wine red face. Unknown to him, at this rate Kairi would ask to release every single butterfly they catch and they would not finish their project in time. 

Opening her cupped hand that had caged the butterfly, she watched it flutter away into the distance and retrieved her mayonnaise jar from Riku. Her gaze flickered over to an orange butterfly that flitted by her before running after it, laughing as she waved the butterfly net around like an idiot. 

Or perhaps, to you she seemed to be an idiot. Somehow the two boys managed to pick themselves off the floor and chase after her, kicking up sand and treading on salty sea water. "Look! I caught it! Sora, let's use this one!" Kairi yelled, gasping for breath as she showed them the not-so-empty mayonnaise jar, grinning with pride. 

"It's a monarch, right Riku?" Sora asked, panting hard and gasping forhair as he stared at the small butterfly fluttering hopelessly inside the jar. Despite what Riku was going to say, it was a monarch with its brilliantly orange wings. 

Riku only replied by saying, "They release those on weddings and funerals, you know that?" 

The brunet snorted, "Funerals, huh? Why would they do that at a funeral?" 

"I don't know, though they're awfully pretty. Anyways, do you think it's poisonous, Riku?" Kairi inquired, watching the butterfly, which had calmed down, sit on the bottom of her mayonnaise jar.

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and the games we once played have no meaning  
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The two ten year olds huddled close to each other while sitting in front of the fire, watching intently as the eleven year old boy told his tale. "After that night, he was never seen again… Or so they say," Riku's turquoise eyes looked tentatively at the background, a few moment later his mouth opened, as if in shock.

"W-what is it Riku?" Sora whispered, fearing of what might have been behind him and Kairi. The girl had attatched herself to his arm and seemed not ready to let go of it anytime soon. 

The older boy's eyes widened, which caused both Sora and Kairi t turn slowly to see what was behind them. A loud scream filled the unusual silence, followed by the high-pitched squeal Kairi used when she was afraid and Sora yelling both Riku and Kairi's names in a rapid manner. 

Suddenly, Riku burst into laughter, pointing at the dread-filled pair. "You actually fell for it! Kairi, I understand, but you Sora?" he chortled in amusement as he watched the fear fade from his friend's eyes and slowly turn to anger. "Ha, ha, ha…" 

Riku was still in mid-laugh when Sora tackled him down, the ten year old trying his hardest to inflict some damage on the older and taller boy. Kairi was still sitting on the ground, eyes wide in disbelief that Riku would ever think that she was like those girls who were afraid of everything. 

After a few minutes of the regular wrestling and Sora trying to kill Riku, Kairi managed to find her voice and yell, "Stop it already! We all know that Riku's being an egotistical jerk because he's going to leave elementary school this year! Now can we please go on with the stories?" 

Clearing his throat, Riku wriggled his way out of Sora's loose headlock and seated himself beside Kairi, murmuring, "Whatever you say…" Sora followed suit, sitting on her other side. 

"You know, I heard that fairies leave these fairy changelings in place of real kids when they don't like you…" she spoke quietly, causing the two boys to inch closer to her. "The changelings were left in place of a real human because they want the humans to forget and have the human baby as a slave…" 

It was ironic, maybe a bit too ironic… 

After a bit of story telling, chills and thrills, the three friends fell asleep while sprawled under the starlight. It had always been like this, Kairi in the middle, Sora and Riku by her sides, sandwiching her in between them. 

Sometimes they would wonder how long it would last that way.

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so they've left me to my own daydreaming  
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She loved them both; they were her heroes who came home, her hero and antihero. It was impossible for her to choose between them, no matter how hard she tried. They were her saviors, the ones who saved her when she needed them, and the ones who always kept their promises.

But oh, they were more than heroes, even before they saved the world they had been her heroes. The ones to chase away the Boogey man in the middle of the night, the ones to hold her and tell her it was alright when she was afraid, they were the ones who had always been there. Not her heroes, to be exact, but they were her best friends. 

Kairi didn't want to break them; it pained her to seem them hurt. So she held onto both of them tightly, hoping, just hoping that they would understand. They didn't. It came the day where she had to decide between the two of them. 

But she didn't choose, in fact, she held onto them even tighter then. She didn't want them to leave her like they did. Loved them both, kissed them both, she let them, still hoping that they were aware of her intentions. 

That might have only been wishful thinking. 

The sun was bright that day, she remembered as she headed to their houses, expecting them to stand there waiting for her as they always did every morning. 

Yet, they weren't. 

All that was left was a changeling, someone she didn't know in place of her brunet best friend, someone with blond hair and blues eyes and a fake smile on his face. 

She cried even harder when they released butterflies on their funerals. 

_They release those on weddings and funerals, you know that? _

_Funerals, huh? Why would they do that at a funeral?_

* * *

**footnotes: **i actually liked this one a fair bit. :D contest entry.

original kh cast & disney characters © square enix/disney  
text © waraenai 2008


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